Nero Walker, Book 3 Ch.76 (191) (Patreon)

Commander Dahl tapped his chin in thought while his lips stretched into a feral smile. The hologram displaying the battle in front of him finally showed him the exact kind of opportunity he’d been waiting for. The kobalds were massing an assault on the area directly in front of the support structure containing one of the portable battle-hubs. He knew it would be devastating if the kobalds made it through the line there, and he was positive whoever was commanding the kobalds knew it as well. It was a perfect excuse for him to do what needed to be done to end this quickly, with as few casualties as possible.

After seeing what awaited his troops, he needed a way to draw out the kobald’s forces. He’d been forced to wait for an opportunity like this since his forces were nearing the kobald stronghold surrounding their exit tunnel. He couldn’t allow them to perform an organized retreat and reinforce their defenses. So, for the last 12 hours, he had slowed his force's advance and let his troops bleed the kobalds for as long as possible. He knew he would have to entice them into overextending if he wanted to clear out the top-side forces before he assaulted their defenses around the exit tunnel.

As it stood right now, the kobalds were constantly bringing up fresh reserves by way of their exit tunnel. If he couldn’t kill them faster than their reinforcements arrived, then he knew his forces were in for a pointlessly tough fight. Who knew how many kobalds were just waiting below for their chance to kill a few humans? So, he needed them to think they broke his lines and commit a majority of their troops toward a failed offensive.

Dropping his hands to manipulate the hologram, he used the controls and simple gestures to zoom in on the area in question. ‘Just as I thought… this should do nicely,’ he congratulated himself on his clever plan, while silently thanking whatever planar deity was influencing events in his favor.

Standing up from his scrutiny of the hologram, he called out, “Have Relief Force B3 sent to reinforce section M27! Get our reserves moving toward M26, and have Relief Forces B4, B5, and B6 collapse to support section M28. Activate everyone we have that is awake and capable of fighting. Have Relief Foces B6 through B9 stretch out to cover B4 through B6’s areas of responsibility. I also want our support forces in those sections moved out of the area. Bring in some of the penal squads to cover their responsibilities. Just use whoever is available nearby. Also, there is a battle-hub in M26, so ensure the rearguard knows to stay in place in case of a breakthrough. Give an army-wide warning to the captains to prepare for a final push. Once the kobalds over-run the lines, and fully commit their forces, we’ll end this once and for all.”

While his sub-commanders and battle controllers began disseminating his orders, he bypassed his connection to the battle-hub in order to contact two of his sub-commanders directly.

Feeling the connection established, he reached out and added, “The moment the engagement at M27 begins, I want you both to send orders for Captains Inkler and Onslow to pull back the moment Relief Force B3 engages the enemy. They are to fall back and make sure we don’t lose the battle-hub. They are to coordinate with the rearguard to create a new defensive line. Just be sure to wait for the fighting to progress until B3 is in the thick of it. Captain Angleton can manage well enough on his own with his elites. We can’t make it look like we’re inviting the kobalds in, now can we?”

Before his sub-commanders could question his orders, or even ask for clarification, one of the battle controllers overseeing section M27 called out, “Commander Dahl! Should we alert Lord Walker’s forces about the upcoming assault?”

Snapping his attention back to the hologram, Commander Dahl narrowed his eyes at what he was seeing. The battle controller was right, the assault would come down right next to the unique’s current position.

Groaning in annoyance, he replied, “Just have them pull back and redeploy to another position. Make sure they are at least 3… No, 4 sections away from M27. I don’t want Dorchester’s newest unique or his forces anywhere there. You have…” he carefully looked over the kobald’s preparations to make an educated guess before continuing, “20 minutes before they need to be out of the area. So, get them moving as soon as possible.”

Over the private connection he’d set up with two of his most trusted sub-commanders, he heard a resigned voice ask, “Do we really need to sacrifice them like this? I doubt we’ll be able to recover their bodies in time to resuscitate them if I understand what you’re planning. The whole section of the line will be lost if we do this.”

Commander Dahl's stern face glanced over at the man, mentally replying, “I need the kobalds to fully commit to their assault. While I don’t enjoy spending the lives of my soldiers, sometimes sacrifices must be made to ensure that the battle develops in our favor. If all goes as planned, then their entire surface force will fall on M27 like a hammer, and we’ll be able to surround and destroy them in short order. There is every chance that we’ll be able to recover the soldiers we lost before they are truly lost. But, if not, then they would have died for a good reason… the defense of Dorchester. We should all be so lucky to see our lives end in such a noble manner.”

The sub-commander who asked the question didn’t respond. Instead, he just firmed his jaw and went about the business of preparing the trap Commander Dahl envisioned. Any thought of warning the troops was banished to the deepest, darkest, part of his mind under the heavy weight of his duty to the city he loved.

—--

Nero could feel it in the ether. Everyone in the area was aware of what was coming. It reminded him of the sense of anticipation before the big game, or the moment before he tried to chat up a hottie surrounded by her gremlin friends. The only difference was, this time, he was more focused on his own problems than what was going on around him.

Trying his best to look like he deserved his position as house head, he kept his face blank as he looked up at the faces of the wackos surrounding him. He placed his hands on his hips in a display that he hoped adequately demonstrated his confidence. It was obvious to him that they were all a little tired from the fighting but he was pleased to see that they were also more than ready for another round. There was a glint in their eyes that was eager to hear what he had to say.

Straightening his back, he did his best to look as many of them in the eye as he could while beginning his speech, “We’ve been ‘ordered’ to fall back to another position because this one is going to be hit by the kobalds pretty hard in the next little while. But now that we’ve all had a little warm-up, I think it’s time we have ourselves a proper fight. Rather than comply with command’s order to fuck-off somewhere else and let the professionals handle it, I’m thinking we should stick around and put ourselves to the test.”

Gesturing around with his hands at all the activity going on around them, he continued, “As you can see, everyone here knows that this isn’t going to be like the fighting we’ve just been through. There will be no weak kobalds coming at us one at a time. It will be a horde of the little bastards doing all that they can to overwhelm us. There is a real chance of us dying here.”

Furrowing his brow to display how serious he was, he added, “You all asked to follow me into the battles I chose to fight. You wanted to see what it was like to put yourselves out there. Well, this is it. This is the moment when reality confronts your convictions. Destiny has demanded that you ‘put up or shut up’. So, I want you each to ask yourselves… Are you ready to live up to your dreams? Do you want to play it safe and head back behind the shields of the real soldiers? Or do you want to confront your fears and find out what you’re really capable of when your life is on the line? I can tell you all from personal experience… it’s a bad-ass feeling when you find out that you are more than what you thought you were.”

Pausing his speech, he took a good look at how his little army of crazies was feeling. And, from what he could tell, not a single one of them looked unhappy about his decision to stay and confront the assault heading their way. Cathleen’s eyes were filled with fire, and he could that despite her stoic face, she was almost shaking with anticipation. Even Rose, who was standing next to her, looked equally excited to participate in another real battle. From what he could tell, they all looked like they knew they had been wasting their time playing the tutorial, and were now filled with excitement for the real game to begin.

There was no cheering or big displays of psyching themselves up. They all just followed Cathleen back behind the berms a little bit, hiding themselves among the support staff. Nero had to admit that he was impressed with how well they were keeping it together.

Yet, he knew he shouldn’t have been all that surprised. The entire culture of Dorchester seemed incredibly bland and reserved compared to what he was used to. Granted, the citizenry could cheer and chant with the best of them. But on the whole, everyone in the city was much more reserved than what he would consider ‘normal’. The prevailing sense of stoic duty even affected him, to be honest.

As he watched the preparations being hastily prepared around them, he thought about how much he’d changed since he’d arrived here. For one, it was obvious to him that he’d become much more serious about things he used to mock almost religiously. Without anyone giving him shit, he increasingly felt uncomfortable blatantly insulting people. However, he couldn’t contain his grin at the thought that he’d instead become much more nuanced in his ability to incite rage in those around him. He wondered if there might actually be a skill threshold for being an asshole that he’d passed somehow. ‘At some point, I really need to learn how to manage my skills,’ he told himself, before dismissing it as a tomorrow problem.

He’d also really embraced the whole magic warrior thing he’d been working with. Between Cathleen’s insane idea of training and his time in the wilds, where he had been constantly assaulted by fantastical nightmares, he had fully incorporated combat into his core personality. Looking back, he could barely remember that feeling of nervous anticipation he had before he decided to join in on the noble war. It was like whatever little spark had given him the courage to get involved had grown into a raging inferno of ‘badassery’ that he had to admit, he was really enjoying.

‘If only the old me could see me now…’ he thought with a smile.

The sound of a wagon rolling by caught his attention, and he looked over to see what looked like a giant cannon being dragged through the mud. His jaw dropped in shock at seeing something so… familiar. Running his eyes over it, he was surprised to see a bunch of pipes, runes, and little lights covering the back of it. All in all, it looked like something out of steampunk novel crossed with magitech. It was nothing short of glorious, and he couldn’t wait to see it fire!

He heard a shout and looked over to see an angry woman stomping over while screaming bloody murder at the cannon crew.

“Don’t set it here you idiots! It needs to be back with the reserves! Do you WANT the kobalds to get their hands on a spell cannon!?!” she yelled.

Nero frowned at the exchange, surprised to hear the woman’s tone. ‘Did she expect the kobalds to actually succeed in breaking through the lines?’ he wondered.

Turning to look at what was going on behind him, he tried to get a sense of what was happening. However, considering his height, his efforts were more than a little pathetic. Grunting in annoyance, he cast his pillar spell and rose up to get a better look around.

Immediately he could tell that the army was taking this assault seriously. He could see the support troops grabbing supplies and rushing back further away from the front lines. He could see cavalry troops racing across the open areas, preparing to rush into the battle. The compacted dirt bunkers were being filled with troops, while archers took up positions on top of them. Even some mages were working in concert to adjust the berms that were laid out haphazardly behind the lines.

He, of course, got distracted by what they were doing. With his perception field, he stared in wonder at how they were copying the identity of the ground to create the walls. They almost looked like they were working together to infuse them with center. It wasn’t exactly casting… It was more like imbueing. Of course, there was a spell involved, but the way they were doing it was entirely unfamiliar to him. They weren’t creating an effect, they were creating a false reality.

Turning to his right to try and ask Nick for an explanation, he was reminded that he was still standing on his pillar. As a result, he ended up almost asking the air for its opinion. Biting back his embarrassment, he remembered why he was up here in the first place. ‘Not the time! Don’t be distracted with cool new magic!’ he chided himself, before returning to his survey of what was going on with the defenses.

Looking further back behind the lines, he saw some of the tent-like structures that had been slowly moving up behind the fighting. He assumed they must either be using magic to keep them mobile, or they were constantly leapfrogging them while the front line pushed forward into the mountains. They were all large and obviously well-maintained, and he had thought they must have been armories or command centers or something. But now, he wondered if they served another purpose because he could see defensive lines springing up in front of them. Dense lines of soldiers were preparing for battle, way behind where there was currently fighting. They were stacked shoulder to shoulder, clearly preparing for a pitched battle.

Turning back to get an idea of the distance, he couldn’t understand what they were doing. The new defensive line and tents were hundreds of feet from the fighting. Were they planning on letting the kobalds get that far?

Coming to a realization, his eyebrows shot up nearly to his hairline. He quickly took another look around with his new perspective, and he could tell that he had been missing something.

Hurriedly dismissing his pillar, he dropped back to the ground. Turning to his wackos, he addressed Cathleen, “I think they’re planning on letting the kobalds through for some reason. We need to get further back and out of the ambush zone. Like, right now!”

She and the rest of the wackos looked at him with surprise, underscored with confusion.

“Command didn’t say anything about an envelopment maneuver. Why do you think they’re planning on letting the kobalds penetrate the line?” she asked calmly, clearly not believing Nero’s theory.

Rolling his eyes, Nero replied, “Why would they tell us? We’re not even supposed to BE here!”

Her eyes widened a little in shock, the realization of what he was saying snapping her to attention. Nero assumed she started giving out orders through the command connection because the wackos immediately reacted in concert to evacuate the area. Not wasting a single second, they made their way further behind the lines and took up position off to the side of the new reserve line.

Cathleen turned to him and demanded, “Raise me up so I can see what’s going on.”

While Nero was a little annoyed with her tone, he still decided to indulge her request. With a wave of his hand and a little magic, he watched her rise a few feet off the ground on one of his pillars. The moment she was up there, she began scanning the field as if she were looking for something.

For a moment, he let himself bask in the idea that she was a statue. She looked like the myth of a warrior woman given form, complete with bloodstains and battle gunk.

Less than a minute later, she looked down at him from her ten-foot height and ordered him to lower her back down. Rolling his eyes, he did as she requested.

“I agree with your conclusion, but I don’t understand what command is thinking. There must be a tactical reason for them to put a battle-hub at risk like this,” she said.

Nero was about to ask what she meant when the sounds of battle coming from the front completely changed into hissing screams and shouts from the soldiers for aid. Whipping his head around, he looked out into a small sea of kobalds trying to rush through the lines while slashing and biting at the troops holding the front line. It was both terrifying and amazing to see… even from the distance he was currently at.

Unsurprisingly, the soldiers began retreating immediately. He could see the second-line mages and ranged support sprinting back behind the berms while tossing whatever they could over their shoulders. Several times, he even saw some of their spells hitting the melee fighters who were behind dragged down under the tide of kobalds. With how much momentum the lizards had behind them, they had no problem running over the lines and obliterating anyone who stood in their way.

The sounds of the cavalry from his left brought his attention to the formation of knights rushing into the lanes between the berms. It looked like a practiced maneuver that halted the kobald’s assault in its tracks.

From his vantage point, Nero quickly lost sight of what was happening as all he could see was the cavalry filling the lines and looking for any kobalds brave enough to crawl over the mud walls holding them back. Once again, Nero questioned the intelligence of the locals at seeing mounted knights using their horses to stomp the 4-foot-tall kobalds while bending down so that their weapons could reach them. That wasn’t to say that there weren’t big kobalds there for them to decapitate, but seeing them try and lean off their saddles to kill the little ones strained what little respect he had left for their decision-making skills.

Wanting to get a better view, he cast another pillar so he could see what was happening. This time, he raised himself high enough that his teeth ached from the hum of the shields hovering above their heads.

Whatever he had expected, it wasn’t this. The line of kobalds was hundreds of feet wide, and densely packed all the way back up to where they were coming from. Somehow, they actually managed to maintain their lines and didn’t spread out at all, even with the front of their lines forcing them to slow down. It was a level of coordination Nero hadn’t thought them capable of. And the varying types of kobalds participating in the assault were filling the combat area with flashes of light that could only be spells or abilities going off at point-blank range.

What few soldiers remaining from the lines were slowly being picked off, and even some of the knights were being pulled down. Already, there were piles of kobald and human bodies stacking up, creating hazards for everyone to fight around. It was a blood bath. One which he had no idea how to join without considering it to be suicide.

His attention was caught by the sight of golden flashes off in the distance. The display jogged his memory, and he quickly recognized what was causing it. Narrowing his eyes, he wondered, ‘What the hell is Captain Angleton doing out there?’

Before he could even process the fact that the elites he’d been training with were currently out there fighting for their lives, three-quarters of the cavalry suddenly turned and retreated from the battle. They cut tail and ran like little bitches, not even considering what would happen to the soldiers they were leaving behind. Nero could tell that it was way too organized to be an accident. For some reason, they were choosing to leave all those men and women to die.

Not knowing what to think, Nero stood in shock on his pillar, standing high above the troops around him. He was so horrified at what he was seeing, he couldn’t help but shout in outrage, “What the fuck are you assholes doing! Are you just going to leave them to die you fucking cowards!”

Clenching his fists in rage, he knew he had to do something. But what that ‘something’ was… he had absolutely no frickin idea.